Christie Chronicles

Inquirer Blogger

In a scene filled with symbolic significance both for flood-ravaged Jersey Shore residents and the politics-crazed media, President Obama joined Gov. Christie on Wednesday for an aerial and ground tour of Sandy's wrath.

Their bipartisan afternoon hugging Brigantine residents and surveying the state's coastline from Marine One came just six days before the Democratic president faces a neck-and-neck election against Republican Mitt Romney. The pairing elicited shock online and on TV, but gratitude on the ground.

Christie, after all, delivered the keynote speech at the GOP convention and had spent the fall belittling Obama on Romney's behalf - but that was before the biggest natural disaster in New Jersey history.

Millions of residents remain without power, property damage will be in the billion-dollar range, and thousands of people are stranded in shelters. Neighborhoods remain flooded, gasoline has become hard to find in some places, and many schools are still closed.

But Wednesday was all about Christie asking for help and Obama promising that the federal government would be there.

"We are here for you and we will not forget. We will follow up to make sure that you get all the help that you need until you've rebuilt," Obama said.